When Burnham Wood Comes Up To Dunsinane
by honestgreenpirate
Summary: A version of 'Forest of the Dead' - an idea of what could happen. Rating for very slight swearing. With my OC Ella Marlowe. Donna Noble and Ella Marlowe have left the library. Donna Noble and Ella Marlowe have been "saved".
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Right - this story contains my OC Ella Marlowe who has been in other stories I have written. You probably don't have to read those to understand this but it might help with a bit of back story. At this point she's probably been traveling with the Doctor for a few months and Donna's traveling with them as well. I think Ella got there first.**

**This is what happens in Forest of the Dead in my world. Starts of in Silence in the Library though.**

**The title comes from Macbeth which I don't own and I don't own Doctor Who either.**

**I think that explains everything - any confusion just let me know!**

When Burnham Wood Comes Up To Dunsanaine

"With me, c'mon!"

The Doctor dashed from the room and through the door to the shop, Ella and Donna each grasping one of his outstretched hands.

The wares that were displayed on the shelves were covered in the dust of a century but were still interesting enough to draw the two women's attention. The Doctor had sprinted to the end of the room and was fiddling with a bank of controls but Ella and Donna paused at a table full of goods.

"What are we doing? Are we shopping? Is now a good time to shop?" Donna was reaching out a hand for one of the mugs with 'The Library' written on the side.

"Ohh, look, they've got those snappy bracelets. I love these things!" Ella had picked one up, purple with 'The Library' emblazoned across it, and snapped it onto her wrist.

The Doctor strode over and took Donna by the arms, moving her to stand on a light spot on the floor.

"Ella, come on!"

Ella turned and the Doctor forced her onto it as well before dashing back to the controls.

"Right, stand in the middle. It's a teleport. Can't send the others back, the TARDIS won't recognise them."

"What are you doing?" Donna was looking puzzled but Ella was beginning to feel scared.

"Doctor, no - "

"You don't have suits, you're not safe."

"_You_ don't have a suit!" Donna pointed out.

"You're in just as much trouble as we are and we're not leaving you!" Ella made as if to step off the teleport.

"Listen, let me explain - " the Doctor's words made them pause and in the moment he hit the button.

Donna and Ella had gone.

**A/N: Just a bit of set up there. Will up date very very soon - like as soon as this is posted and Chapter two is where it gets a bit more interesting. I hope you are at least intrigued if not enjoying it.**

**Also the snappy bracelet things are those ones you always find in museum shops, you know the ones? I always got one on school trips. Awesome sauce.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: So chapter two, where the story really starts.**

**I don't own Doctor Who.**

When Burnham Wood Comes Up To Dunsinane

Chapter Two

Frowning slightly, Ella Marlowe blinked twice to wake herself up properly. Her room was still dark but there was a quality to it that assured her that if she opened her curtains sunlight would stream in. None peeked round the corners though, this was the sort of place that had black out material covering each window.

It annoyed her, a lot, and she often felt claustrophobic, preferring to walk in the grounds than stay in the house. She didn't open the curtains yet though, she was trying to think.

She'd had the dream again last night. The same one she had again and again, night after night. She knew she had, although she could never remember it she knew it was always the same.

She remembered feeling scared and frustrated with someone, but also oddly content and happy. And the fear she felt was more basic and instinctive than the one she felt now. Here she had a constant, stomach dissolving feeling that something wasn't right, that she wasn't supposed to be here and that she was missing someone, someone important. Or perhaps it was her that was missing, she was never quite sure.

There was a darting elusive memory just outside her grasp and she knew that if she could get it everything would be alright.

A soft knock at the door and it was immediately opened, before she could respond.

"Hello, Miss Marlowe. How are you feeling this morning?"

She was a friendly enough looking nurse, much younger than the others, though older than Ella. With Ella, however, it was hard to guess her age. There was something about her eyes that was ancient and unnerving in her youthful face, though that too had aged. Now she was scowling heavily at Nurse Mitford as she went to open the curtains. Ella knew this wasn't how she was supposed to wake up. So gently and with no chat and no coffee.

"What day is it?"

"Thursday."

This seemed strange. Time was tricky though and it didn't really matter what day it was, she'd be somewhere else soon. But what was it that made her think that?

"How long have I been here?"

"Three weeks."

"Why?"

"You're finding it difficult to remember things and we're trying to help."

The Nurse was looking at her sadly now and there was a rehearsed quality to her words that made Ella wonder if she'd asked and been told before.

"Now, are you going to get up?"

"Maybe." Ella sounded uninterested in the prospect of being up and doing.

Nurse Mitford seemed to take this as acquiescence enough and left the room. Ella lay still for some time but it was hard to think of the dream with the curtains open. By the time she got out of bed to shut them again she figured that she was already up so she may as well get dressed.

She didn't see anyone else for several hours, the silence and loneliness oppressive to her. She was sure she was used to action and adventure. She stumbled through the morning routine of making her bed and eating breakfast. There was a constant prickling of the hairs at the back of her neck to indicate she was being watched.

When someone came to find her she was sitting on the stone steps by the front door, reading. She loved to read, devouring whole books in a day, but she would never go to the library to get another one. She had an apparently irrational fear of libraries.

"Come on, Miss Marlowe, the Doctor would like to see you." It was Nurse Mitford again.

"The Doctor?" something flashed in Ella's mind at those words and a vague picture began to form to match the name, because it was a name, not a title.

"Yes, this way."

Ella hurried after the Nurse, through the corridors until they reached a heavy wooden door. Nurse Mitford stood aside and, without hesitation, Ella pushed down the handle and went in.

The man who stood up from behind the desk surprised her. He was nothing like the picture in her head though that had suddenly floated away and she couldn't really remember it any more. He was short, round, with a shiny bald head and glasses perched on the end of his nose.

"Hello, Ella. Why don't you sit down?"

Suddenly, through her unexplainable yet poignant disappointment that he wasn't who she thought he should be, she was very angry with him. She sat down with her arms and legs crossed and stared fiercely at him.

"What do you want?"

"I just want to talk to you."

There was a long silence that Dr Roberts finally broke when he realised Ella would not.

"Have you had your dream again?"

Her eyes flashed anger at him.

"No." she said shortly, staring out of the window.

"Are you lying to me Ella?"

He was leaning forward now, watching her closely. She raised one eyebrow at his question and curled her lip slightly in distaste. Mimicking his attitude, she leaned forward and lent her elbows on the table.

"You're a patronising bastard aren't you?" she asked cordially before getting suddenly to her feet. "I'm going now."

She spun on her heel and exited the room, slamming the door behind her and leaving him speechless.

**A/N: I hope you liked it. Please review to let me know what you think and with any questions. I'll try to update soon.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Just had to quickly repost this as I realised I'd done something _incredibly_ stupid. All is fine now though. Enjoy!**

**I don't own Doctor Who.**

When Burnham Wood Comes Up To Dunsinane

Chapter Three

Donna Johnson was one of those people who seemed to have everything going for her. She had two bright personable young children, Gracie and Abigail, and a dependable, if slightly stolid, husband, Lee, who earned enough money to mean she didn't have to work. Now the kids were old enough to spend most of their waking hours at school, however, Donna did get a job. Only because she wanted too and, anyway, she didn't get paid for it.

Donna was a volunteer for Support Us, registered charity No. 4022. At first she'd been content with meeting new people and having something to do, something that resulted it that warm glow that came from helping people. Recently however, someone she visited caught her interest and she began to work overtime until Donna Johnson was visiting Ella Marlowe every day of the week.

Donna's job description was ambiguous, basically amounting to visiting those who needed it, generally if they had experienced trauma or grief, and chatting to them, maybe having a cup of tea. For some people, this made all the difference.

Oakside Retreat, where Ella was staying, initially contacted the charity in the hopes they could find something out about the mysterious woman, who seemed to belong to no one having just appeared one day. When Ella took a shine to Mrs Johnson the staff were grateful that she would talk openly with anyone and encouraged Donna to come as often as possible. There was no one else to claim Ella Marlowe and visit her, talk with her.

On the day in question, Donna chose to visit in the afternoon. She found Ella in the garden, an empty mug dangling from her fingers.

"Hi, Ella." Donna walked forward and stood beside the younger woman.

"Hi."

From the first there had been a connection between the two women, one that neither of them understood but that they both welcomed to fill the dark spaces in their memories. Donna was a classic example of someone who had the flawless facade of a perfect life but underneath was slowly breaking. But that was where conventionality ended, Donna didn't feel she was insignificant and she wasn't disappointed in her marriage and pining after someone else.

Well, not exactly. She often felt there was someone missing, someone she cared about and who needed her help. The gaps in her memories were unbearable and she had strange reactions to everyday words, as if they meant something more to her or had a completely different definition. And the dreams she tried not to think about. Lying awake in the dark she had a sickening suspicion that she belonged at Oakside just as much as Ella did.

"What are you looking at?"

Ella was staring, unblinking, at the sky before them, where dark grey clouds were scudding swiftly across the pale background as if running from something.

"The Oncoming Storm." Ella spoke slowly and calmly but when she had said the words she frowned, as if they had come from someone else.

They were silent, watching the sky darken. With the first drops of rain they turned back to the house, reaching the door as the deluge began in earnest.

The room they sat in, the one they always used, belonged to the idyll of an old English country house. A fire burned brightly in the grate, the walls were painted deep red and thrown into shadow and rain splattered against the windows that showed the dark of a winter afternoon. They talked of small inconsequential things - Ella asking after Donna's children and Donna wanting to know about the books Ella had been reading. The plots of which Ella could remember perfectly.

There was a lull in the conversation as Donna drained the dregs from her cup of tea and Ella stared into the crackling fire. She suddenly spoke, not taking her eyes from the flames.

"They took me to see the Doctor today."

"_The_ Doctor?"

The emphasis was slight but Ella appeared to understand it. She regarded Donna solemnly for a moment before answering.

"No."

Silence fell again and not long after Donna left, promising to return the next day.

**A/N: I hope you enjoyed it. Please please please review it would make me very happy! Also let me know if anything doesn't make sense etc - I'd like to know.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Nice long chapter this one. Hope you like it. i don't own Doctor Who.**

When Burnham Wood Comes Up To Dunsinane

Chapter Four

It was apparently good behavior that allowed Ella to visit the nearby town to shop on some days. This was completely untrue, however, and Ella knew it, actually snorting when they told her of the 'treat' in store for her. She wasn't one to argue - lies, she loved a good argument, it had got her into trouble just as many times as it saved her. She _knew_ that, just not how she knew.

Anyway, the real reason she was allowed out was because she was utterly exasperating. Ella was fully conscious of this fact and a part of her rather liked the idea. She had no knowledge of the life she had had up to three weeks ago, before she'd turned up at Oakside, however she was clearly bright and with her personality fully intact. They'd been trying to test her, give her various stimulants to encourage a reaction out of her and hopefully get her memories back, in time anyway. Ella was being uncooperative. She would not participate and, as had been seen in her reaction to Dr Roberts, she had no wish to _talk _about things, couldn't think of anything worse actually.

She had some idea that she'd always been a reserved sort of person, not someone who talked about their feelings and hopes readily, though this reticence was concealed between an open facade. After a couple of drinks she became more communicative and not a little forward, a smile was brought to her lips by a couple of memorable incidents. Except that they weren't memorable, not now, and that was the problem.

Angrily, she kicked at a couple of stones on the driveway. This half-knowledge was driving her up the wall. Impatiently she turned towards the door as it opened. Nurse Mitford emerged and came down the steps towards her. Ella requested her as a companion merely because she looked less like a nurse than any of the others and sometimes she kid herself that they were just two friends out shopping.

She was very definitely under escort, however, and she no chance of going further than the town. She didn't really want to though, she had no idea where to go after that.

They walked to the bus stop and waited only a couple of minutes before an old, rusty looking thing turned up and shuddered to a halt, as if at the slightest prompting it would fall to pieces. Nurse Mitford paid their fare and Ella chose a seat by the window, staring determinedly out of it in he hopes that she wouldn't have to make conversation with the nurse.

Walking down the high street, Ella ignored the shops on either side. She was here to escape more than to shop. Nurse Mitford was interested though and Ella was content enough to walk along in her wake. The nurse was the sort of woman men appeared to like - petite and curvy se always wore heels with her nurse's outfit and was even wearing a couple of inches with her jeans. She had smoothly bobbed blonde hair and a happy, care free smile. Walking with her Ella felt more out of place that usual. She was built more along bean pole lines with long, dark hair that hung in wild curls and serious eyes matched to a stubborn mouth. No man could ever feel protective of her but she had been saved by someone more than once, she felt like she had anyway.

Nurse Mitford spotted a shoe store and went to look in the window, Ella joining her but finding it singularly uninspiring.

"You should get a nice pair of heels," the nurse suggested. They avoided calling each other by name in public, it meant they didn't have to speak each other's title.

Ella looked down and saw her customary ballet pumps poking out from under her trousers into whose deep pockets she had stuffed her hands. Transferring her gaze to the shoes the nurse was looking at and then impatiently to the bustling street.

"I don't wear heels, you never know when you'll need to run."

"Quite right. I don't either."

Ella spun quickly to see who had spoken and found herself confronting the chest of a tall man. Looking up into his face she saw he was smiling and his eyes were sparkling as if they were sharing some secret joke. One that she should know about.

She didn't though, not fully. There was something about him that made her want to smile and join in with whatever he was doing, and she probably would have done if she hadn't been so confused. Starting with his burgundy converse and traveling up his blue suit and brown coat she tried to place him, find the part that he fit in. His lips were quite thin, seeming more inclined to turn downwards than up, and now not quite smiling anymore, the contours of his face were angular and his side burns quite long. His hair had clearly been set in a style at some point but his life style had ruffled it until it stuck out in all directions. Expressive eyebrows were beginning to draw together and his eyes were filling with worry, only a light covering to the deep grief they already held.

Ella stared into his eyes for several long moments, trying to fathom who he was, and had just opened her mouth to speak when the nurse interupted.

"Miss Marlowe? Is everything alright?"

To Ella it felt as if they had been standing there for hours but if had been mere fleeting seconds. She snapped her gaze away from his to glance, irritated, at Nurse Mitford who looked worried, before striding off down the street towards the bus stop.

The nurse made to go after her but the man detained her.

"That's - Ella Marlowe - isn't it?" He spoke hesitantly as if not quite believing it.

"Yes, sir." She looked him over curiously. "Do you know her?"

"Do I know her? She's - she's my - well, she's my, my - . Yes, I know her."

Nurse Mitford was surprised to hear it, though happy to know her charge had someone in the world, someone who had quite a close relationship with her by the sounds of things.

"What's wrong with her?"

"She's having some problems with her memory. She can only remember the last three weeks and nothing before that." Nurse Mitford spoke slowly and calmly, trying to soothe the shellshocked man standing before her. When it became clear he was unable to speak, unable to do anything but stare after Ella, she spoke again. "Listen, perhaps you should talk to her charity worker, Donna Johnson, she's the only one Miss Marlowe ever really talks to."

The man was staring at her now and suddenly grabbed her shoulders.

"Donna? Donna Noble?"

His urgency surprised her and she put a reassuring hand on one of his arms.

"No, Donna Johnson. Mrs Donna Johnson."

He released her, frowning heavily.

"Where does she live?"

Nurse Mitford hesitated a moment before telling him, she wasn't supposed to divulge this sort of information but something about this strange man made her trust him. Having received the relevant information he left her with no more than a heartfelt 'Thank you'. Nurse Mitford stood staring after him before hurrying off after her wayward charge.

**A/N: Ohhh, mystery! Please review. **


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I hope you like it, sorry it's so short but I will update soon. I don't own Doctor Who.**

When Burnham Wood Comes Up To Dunsinane

Chapter Five

Donna Johnson returned home that night tired and worried. She'd been to see Ella and found her preoccupied after a trip into town and a meeting with a strange man who _meant_ something, apparently.

Surprisingly, she could hear low voices coming from the sitting room and went in to investigate. Seated in the chair opposite the door was Lee, her solid as a rock husband, talking to a man who was sitting on the sofa with his back to her, so all she could see of him was the collar of a blue suit and messy brown hair.

"Oh, hello, love, you're home late. This is the Doctor. He says he knows the girl you visit. I was going to make a cup of tea, d'you want one?"

Without waiting for an answer, Lee left through the other door into the kitchen. Donna stood rooted to the spot, staring as the man in the blue suit stood slowly and turned around.

"Oh my god."

Donna blinked rapidly several times.

"Hello Donna." the Doctor said quietly, giving her a sad little smile.

"Oh my god, Doctor!" she ran forward and hugged him hard. "It's you, it's really you!"

He held her tight in his arms, grinning properly now. She finally pulled away, questions falling from her tongue.

"But, where have you been? What happened? I couldn't - I couldn't remember you. Why not?"

The Doctor looked grave again and put his hands back in his pockets, taking a breath before explaining.

"The library took you, 'saved' you, and took your memories. It found a place for you and created a life. A whole new history for you to believe in. And, I'm so sorry Donna, but it isn't real. As soon as all your memories return it will be as if your life here never was."

Donna sat down heavily and tears started up in her eyes.

"None of it? None of it's real? Not my children, not Lee, not anything?"

"I'm sorry."

"But he was just here - you were talking to him!"

The Doctor sighed and sat down beside her.

"He may well be a real person, but soon it will be as if you never met. Time will reassert itself and everything will be the same as it was before."

As memories came rushing back and Donna began to realise she had not spent years with her husband and children, but three weeks with a man she didn't know and children that didn't really exist, she began to sob in earnest. The Doctor put a comforting arm round her shoulders and held her to him.

When she calmed, the Doctor went to make them both a cup of tea, there was no Lee to make it now. They sat on the sofa for hours talking about the things they had done together and Donna told the Doctor stories of her life before she'd met him, reveling in the fact that she could now recall it with such crystal clarity.

"I remember, Mum was absolutely furious and - wait, Doctor, what about Ella?" Donna interrupted herself as she suddenly remembered more recent events. The Doctor's look of mild amusement immediately turned to one of immense gravity.

"Yes, Ella. I don't know what happened to her. She should have been given a ready made happy life like you, when instead she's been cooped up in some asylum - "

"Retreat." Donna corrected automatically.

"Whatever. She's kept there and she doesn't remember." He paused for a moment, concentrating on breathing calmly. "I saw her today and she didn't recognise me."

Donna grabbed his arm suddenly.

"Of course! It was you! She told me about it." She noticed the pain in his eyes and added. "She might not have known who you are but she knew you're important somehow. It's just like - " Donna searched for the words. "Like, there's a wall between the her now and the her of three weeks ago and beyond her turning up at the Retreat she can't remember anything, not one person or event. Not properly anyway - just odd bits and dreams."

The Doctor sighed and leaned back in the sofa, resting his hands behind his head.

"Well, she always was stubborn. At a guess - I'd say her mind refused to let the library insert false memories so it just took away all the existing ones, leaving behind great blank spaces."

"That's awful," Donna said, tragedy in her face.

"Yeah." the Doctor replied succinctly, hints of despair in her voice.

**A/N: Yay Doctor and Donna back together at last! I do actually love Donna I think she's awesome! Please review xx**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: A short chapter I'm afraid, and the penultimate one in this story.**

**I don't own Doctor Who.**

When Burnham Wood Comes Up To Dunsinane

Chapter Six

Ella had a different dream that night. There was no library, no shop, no Donna. Just that man, the one she'd seen on the street. As first he was standing in an empty, dark room talking to her, explaining and apologising but she couldn't hear him. Didn't know what he was trying to say. She tried to talk to him but she couldn't make a sound.

Then there were flashes of their life together, suceeding each other quickly, pausing just long enough for her to focus on them and remember them before moving on. There was a Christmas with her family when he made it snow, she'd met a woman called Martha Jones and felt jealous, she'd got drunk after reading the last Harry Potter book and he'd looked after her. She'd had nightmares, and he stayed with her, stopped her screaming and sobbing, explained them and taken them away.

She awoke in them morning with the echo of her own voice shouting his name ringing in her head.

Ella was confused, so confused. The pieces were beginning to come back together but it was like there was a bit missing. The bit that was the key to the rest of it and if she remembered it the rest of the puzzle would fall easily into place. But that one piece remained elusive.

For several slow, dragging hours that day she could settle to nothing. She couldn't shake the feeling that something was going to happen, something was going to change.

In the late morning she had finally managed to stop her restless pacing to stay in the same spot for some amount of time. She was standing at the end of the terrace looking out across the gardens, velvet green lawns rolling gently away from her and a cold winter wind buffeting her from both sides.

She heard the footsteps approaching behind her but didn't turn.

"Hello Ella."

Donna had had to take several deep breaths before saying those two simple words. Now that she remembered Ella properly, the blankness in her gaze and her frustration at being unable to remember was going to hurt all the more.

"Hi Donna."

They stood together, looking out as they had many times before. Now though, Donna was trying to work out how to say what had to be said. She'd been silent for most of the journey over but hadn't come up with a satisfactory plan. Finally she decided to just say it, straight forwardness was the way to go.

"Ella, there's someone here to see you."

The girl turned to her and was surprised to see tears in the older woman's eyes. She reached out a hand to her.

"Donna, are you ok?"

She only nodded, trying to smile before turning to look down the other end of terrace. Ella followed her gaze and saw him, climbing the last few steps, hands in pockets and a tragic half smile on his face.

She stared at him for a long minute, none of them talking. Slowly te puzzle was coming together, the pieces were fitting into place and suddenly everything made sense and she was running, crying long before she ever reached him, but grinning as well.

The Doctor gathered her close to him, lifting her clean off the ground, something no other man she'd met could do and something he had done so many times before. He was talking, babbling apologies into her hair but all she could do was repeat his name over and over, marveling that he existed, that he was there.

**A/N:** **I hope you liked it, please review and let me know what you think xx**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: The last chapter. I hope you like it.**

**I don't own Doctor Who.**

When Burnham Wood Comes Up To Dunsinane

Chapter Seven

The thing about losing all your memories is this: you never realise how hard it is when you get them back again. Those around you don't think about and you don't even know you're missing anything so how could you possible understand. What no one knows is that to rediscover your memories fully you have to relive them. Again experience all the emotions that were tide up in the room and your entire thought process in the situation. It is impossible to stop yourself from doing it and it is one of the most painful things in this universe.

After the Doctor led Ella and Donna back to the TARDIS there followed several difficult days for all the inhabitants. Indeed, Donna was barely visible for most of the time, mourning the loss of her other life, the one she was _sure_ she didn't want, and appearing worn and depressed when she did appear. Ella was more keen to spend time with the Doctor, rarely letting him out of her sight, much as she had when she'd been suffering from those nightmares. She could still recall that feeling of emptiness at being unable to remember anything and to know he was within reaching distance made her feel safer, and happier, not that she actually wanted to talk. She was very against talking at the moment.

She was suffering though, perhaps not quite as much as Donna but some of her memories were much worse. To be forced to relive what had happened to her was difficult especially as she had felt she might not have been able to get through the pain when they had happened the first time round. She'd had a couple of nightmares, none as bad as those concerning the Time War, but enough for her to wake up with tears running down her cheeks. One morning, the Doctor entered the kitchen to find both his companions sitting at the table, stone cold mugs of tea sitting abandoned in front of them and unshed tears sparkling in their eyes. He hated seeing them like this, two of the strongest women he had ever known, and couldn't help the sickening feeling that it was really his fault. Not that either of them would have let him say so.

Deciding that on this occasion actions were definitely going to speak louder than words, he left the room without speaking and hurried to the control room, flinging them towards a planet and away from the vortex. It must have been the habit of it that meant that within two minutes of landing his two companions arrived ready to go out an explore, even if it was without their usual enthusiasm.

Outside the doors it was revealed they had landed on the top of a grassy cliff, looking out towards the sea. There was a sun shining but a cool breeze kept it from being too warm. Donna began to walk along a path, away from the TARDIS, but when Ella made to follow her the Doctor held out a hand to stop her.

"I think she needs to be alone."

Ella looked sadly after her but decided to trust the Doctor on this occasion. Turning, she found that he had walked a little away from the TARDIS in the other direction and was sitting on the grass. Going to join him she spread out the tales of his coat a little so she wouldn't have to sit on the damp grass, and sat down beside him, ending up leaning against he knees. Silence reigned for a few minutes until he felt the need to break it.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

She didn't need to ask what about.

"No." Her short answer surprised him a little and she saw this in his face and went on to explain it to him properly, remembering he was her friend not some inquisitive, patronising professional, though he could be both inquisitive and patronising. "The three weeks at that place weren't so bad, looking back they're a bit terrifying but at the time I was more angry and confused than anything. It's the reliving of everything that's getting to me - and I don't need to tell you about that, you were there."

He was silent. He knew what she meant, but that wasn't what he meant and he didn't know how to explain. Ella seemed to be content in the silence now and he couldn't think of how to break it. He watched her for a while, unseeing eyes staring out to sea and the wind whipping her hair around her face and tangling it into knots. He was worried, he couldn't deny it, but if he thought about seriously, deep down he felt sure she would be alright. Fine. That was the word, the one he always used, fine. Fine covered a multitude of sins.

Taking his gaze from her and looking down the path he saw Donna returning, she didn't come to join them but held a hand up to acknowledge his gaze before turning her key in the lock of the door and going into the TARDIS. He chose not to follow her immediately, giving her the time if she needed it. Half hoping that she would poke her head out in a minute to yell at him for being so slow, he hadn't been called spaceman in some time.

She didn't though and eventually he gestured to Ella that they should leave. She stood and offered him a hand to help him up, he took it and they strolled back. On reaching the doors she walked forward with her key ready but he used their clasped hands to hold her back.

"I learnt something in the library." he said and held his spare hand up in front of him. Ella watched bemused as he snapped his fingers once and the doors swung open.

They stood still, staring into the TARDIS but not entering.

"What happened to the Professor?" Ella asked quietly, turning to look at the Doctor when his hold on her hand became convulsive. "Professor River Song, what happened to her?"

He took a deep breath, still staring into his ship.

"She was 'saved'. There was nothing else that could be done for her but she can live on in that other world."

Ella nodded and hesitated before asking her next question, she wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer but knew she had to ask.

"Did you find out who she was?"

"No. I don't want to peek at the end of my story."

"What about mine? What if I want to peek?" He gave her a half smile and she was gratified to know her teasing produced some sort of result. Something else occured to her however and she grew serious once more. "She didn't know us though, Donna said that she'd never met her, just heard about her."

The Doctor also looked serious and turned back to his ship.

"Yes, she didn't know Donna."

That appeared to be all the information she was going to receive and she was to make of it what she would, really she couldn't help but feel hopeful at his specific exclusion of her name.

"Time to go." he said and she nodded, following him through the doors. She didn't fail to notice that he shut them with his hands rather than the click of his fingers that she felt sure would have shut them for him.

He went slowly back to the control panel, clearly trying to build up his enthusiasm and energy again and she watched him. Noting how it was almost visible when he shouldered his responsibility again and when he turned he was grinning again. Donna entered the room with a comment about spacemen and their time keeping skills on her lips, one he easily parried with the assurance that he was a Time Lord and mundane time keeping that humans insisted on using was completely beneath him.

Ella hovered a moment more, life was getting itself back to normal and she was too. With a deep breath she joined the pair of them no longer wishing to observe, siding with Donna as the teased the Doctor mercilessly until he managed to distract them completely with some serious name dropping.

This was more like it.

**A/N: The end. Thanks to all who read - please give me a last review to let me know what you though overall - that would make my day! **

**Got another story planned and half written already - much more lighthearted than this so I will try to get that up soon. xxx**


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